Herons, Swans, Outtakes, and CFFC – Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Funny

I’m a heron-stalker when it comes to photography, always looking for a close up of a stately bird, the more regal the pose, the better. It’s rare that I can get close enough to try.

At Squaw Creek/Loess Bluffs Wildlife Refuge, Mound City MO

But the funny part is, the birds must sense a camera is nearby. And they’re fast. The joke is almost always on the photographer — they can fly away in an instant, or like this:  turn their backs and shake that booty…

On a recent trip to Piedmont Park in Atlanta, I found the resident heron unusually close to the turtle pond… until I got there with my camera. Then s/he took off. I whipped my camera out to catch the flight. The thumbnail on my viewing screen looked great. Then I downloaded the picture.

Oops, those chicken-legs don’t look so stately after all.

Swans are just as bad. Here’s what happened when I tried for a photos of a graceful three …

Three graceful swans? Nope — two took a last-minute dive.

What’s a photographer to do but keep trying?

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Castleberry Hill Loft Tour 2018, and Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge (CFFC): Places People Live

One more post on Places People Live:  I couldn’t pass up a chance to blog my favorite Atlanta homes tour — the Castleberry Hill Loft Tour.

It comes in October, and this year I timed two fall trips with a week at home between them just so I’d be here for the tour.

“Hooray – it’s time for the tour!” (Barbies seemed to be a decorative thread this year. It was near enough to Halloween that there were zombie Barbies too)

 

There’s always lots of art…

 

… and individual decoration. I loved the sculptural arrangement of these metallic bowls over a doorway.

 

Another loft home, with signs that it’s also this artist’s studio (brick walls and paint on the table: a little like my fantasy-future, back when I was an art student).

 

Dino detail: I covet the T-Rex planter.

 

This was a favorite – serene, elegant and livable.

 

It’s on three levels…

I do love the big-dipper light fixture at the bottom of the stairs.

 

It was a beautiful blue October day – perfect for rooftop views…

 

… and balconies

 

… and more balconies.

As we were leaving, we saw this group in the Gulch. We thought it might be a movie-site walking tour, or maybe a Walking Dead location tour. Lots of filming gets done in Atlanta these days.

 

We appreciate the Castleberry Hill tour because it’s different, more ‘personal’ than some of the other local homes tours, which lately have featured places staged for sale, or even newly built homes that have never been occupied and are open for viewing anyway (are you listening, Modern Atlanta Tour?).

Castleberry Hill is a little quirky, and fun; the neighborhood seems welcoming, with residents always willing to talk about the advantages of inclusivity. Plus, all residences are within walking distance, so we get a good feel for the area.

— For me, it encourages that vision of my “fantasy future loft” — what’s your fantasy future home?

 

More on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

Cee’s Challenge: Places People Live

Castleberry Hill Neighborhood